Musings of a Doll and Figure Collector

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How to Trim & Style Bangs on a Doll Wig

I wanted to share a quick tutorial on how I trim the bangs on my doll’s wigs ^__^”

This is a new wig that I just bought, but as you can see the bangs are WAY too long in the front. Nana looks very silly right now! (I believe my European friends refer to bangs a ‘fringe,’ just to avoid any confusion! ^__~” )
I’ve found that most doll wigs from various companies come with their bangs a bit long – I think it’s just the way that they are manufactured and it’s not a bad thing. Since there are many types of dolls out there, with differently sized and shaped heads, having the bangs a bit long gives some styling options.

Of course, an easy way to solve this is to just brush the bangs to one side, maybe apply a bit of product to help it stay put, or put a clip.
While this doesn’t look horrible, I don’t really like it. Think of it this way, if I were to scale things up, that would be a very big hair clip sitting smack in the middle of my forehead! If I went out in public like that I’d look very foolish! >__<”

Something else that I see very often is doll owners that style the bangs into what I’ve called the “M-bangs” and I think it looks even more ridiculous than a big hair clip in the middle of the forehead! Nana is demonstrating the M-Bangs look:
I’ve never seen anyone walking around in public with their hair style like this, or in an anime either! I see many doll owners doing this to their doll wigs, and it makes me cringe inside! >__<”

Since I prefer the look of the bangs without the clip, I’ve decided to just trim them. Typically bangs should fall just above or at the eyebrows. There’s not very much to trim in this wig but if it’s done badly it won’t look very nice.

Here are some of the styling tools that I keep for taking care of my doll wigs:

Wig conditioner (Large white bottle: Prisila brand from Japan; next to it is the Volks Wig Oil. Don’t be misled by the ‘oil’ in the product name. It’s not oily at all! I use the big bottle at home and bring the smaller Volks one to doll meets)

Spritz bottle for water (can be any size, I like this small one for taking to doll meets)

Volks Mist (basically non-aerosol hairspray)

Volks Water Wax (used to define curls and smooth flyaway hairs)

Wig brushes: the metal one from CoolCat is a pet grooming brush. It’s great because it doesn’t create static and combs through long wigs beautifully. I also keep a soft-bristled baby toothbrush for general wig maintenance.

Various small hair clips

Scissors – in the picture are a pair of thinning shears and a pair of nail cuticle scissors. I like them because they are sharp, small and good for detailed trimming.

I won’t need all of these items today, but they are good to keep around anyways.

If you look back to the photo of Nana at the top, you may notice a few pieces of hair sticking up out of the bangs. To fix this, I’m going to apply some heat to the wig.
[NOTE: Only use heat styling tools on wigs made of heat-resistant fibre! If you’re not sure, test a tiny strand of the wig using a heated tool. If the fibres melt together the wig is NOT heat-proof and you should not use heated implements on the wig!]

I’m choosing to use my hair curling wand instead of a straightening iron because I can be more precise with it. It gets extremely hot, which is why it comes with a protective glove.

Gently glide the curling wand over the hair to flatten down any stray pieces.
I also used it to straighten out the ponytail a bit (it was curled a bit oddly from the way it was packaged for shipment).

Next, use small clips to separate out the pieces of hair you do not want to trim and clip them out of the way. Then make a “bib” using aluminum foil and put that on the doll.

I just cut a “T” shape into a piece of foil, then shape it around the doll’s neck and fold up the edges to catch any stray bits of hair.

Next, analyze the wig before you cut it. The bangs on this particular wig are made up of 2-layers of wefts. The bottom layer is shorter than the top layer (and is actually the ideal length I’m aiming for).

Then I start trimming with the small scissors. As a general rule, cut lower than what you want so that you can go back and clean things up afterwards. Human hair grows back, but wig fibres don’t! Better to err on the side of “too long” than to trim things too short.

Work slowly. ^__~”

To avoid the “freshly chopped bowl-cut” look in the front, cut vertically into the bangs to soften up the harsh edge.

I think this looks alright now.

Gently fold the front edge of the foil bib inwards to trap the loose wig bits and slide it off the doll.

Carefully crumple it up so that the wig bits are trapped, and then discard it. Ta da! No mess!

Here’s what the wig looks like from the side. See how a few pieces of the bangs are sticking out diagonally instead of curving towards the face?
This is where the hair curling wand comes in handy again! Glide the wand over the bangs a few times to warm up the wig fibres, then place your hand over the hair to hold it down. Hold the hair down until it’s completely cooled (15-20 seconds). Repeat if necessary.

Here’s what the wig looks like after the trim! Nana looks so much better now!

I know the thought of cutting a wig may seem terrifying to some people, but sometimes a little trim really does improve it’s appearance!

Thanks for reading! Until next time! ^__~”♥

– ♥ Archangeli

Omake (extra):
The brown Volks wig that Nana usually wears neede a trim too. I forgot to take “before” pictures but here’s what she looked like during the trim –

I'm not gonna re-write my whole comment but basically all I own is a hair dryer (which I don't think would do the same thing to the doll wig as a curler/straightener?) is there anything else I can do/use instead? I also don't think most of my doll's wigs are heat resistant…

Thanks for your time and tutorial!! And sorry if you get another comment basically saying the same thing but in more words and space ^^;; And thanks for the tutorial 😀